Grading-machine.



No."760,590; PATENTED MAY 24, 1904.

E. J. VO DRA.

GRADING MACHINE. APPLIUATIQN rILnn SEPT. 20. 1901, I

N0 MODEL.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

No. 76'0,5 ,90.. PATBNTED MAY 2 1904;

' E. .J.'VODRA.

' GRADI NGMAOHINB. APPLICATION nLnn BERT; 20; 1901.

2 sums-311E111 2.

no MODEL.

. PHOTO-L|THO.. WASHINGTON D4- 7 ablebase "and being transversely bracedto- STATES 1 Patented m 24,1904.

j E WAR yon-RA; o BIVER S yYI SCQNSIiNi I {GRADING-MACHINE.

. SPEcIFjIcATiON forming part ef Letters 3mm No. 760,590, dated iyia24,1904. App lic ation filed September 20,1901. Serial No. 75,909.(Nomod'et) Rivers, in thecounty of Manitowocand State of Vvisc'onsin,haye inventedcertainnewand useful Improvements in Grading -Mach1n'es;

and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,'and'exact'description thereof.

My invention has especialreference to ma chines 'forfgradingbean podsfor canning fac+ .tories; and it cons'ists'iiicertain peculiarities ofconstruction and .c'ornbinati'onofparts,as

willbe' fully set forth hereinafter inconnec tion with the accompanyingdrawings and subsequently'claimed. In the said drawings, Figure 1 is alongitudinal sectional View of a machineembody ing'm'y presentinvention,taken on the line 1 l of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a plan Viewof the saidmachine, portions beingshown broken,

away'in both figuresto-better illustrate cer-' taindetails ofconstruction," Fig. 31 is a trans planes indicated by theline 3 3 inFig. 1 and drawn to an enlarged scale. 'Fig. 4 is'adetail Referring tothe drawings, a a b b c cre r ssent the uprights of successivelydecreasing height, and d d the inclined side pieces of frame, the saiduprights rising-from anysuit gether to form a rigid support, the baseand braces being of any ordinary constructionand not herein shown.Secured to the said uprights are o'ifset extensions, (markedlee', ff,

and 'g g, respectively") and to the upper or outer ends of theseextensions there farepiv otally secured the upper ends of hangers h h,whose lower ends are pivfotally secured to theshaking' screen, next tobe described. This shaking-screen comprises, priin'ar'ilyjtwo in -fclined side boards i i, connec r at intervals by thetransverse boardsfly",

.flatly againstthe undersides o he'boards and hence being similarlyinclined, and resting on these transverse boards' j jare transversebeams is k, and inclined uprightboards m m are securedto the side boards11 ion the e'beinglaid inner sides thereof and similarly-restingon 5 theboards j, j between the ends of the trans'-' Versebeams '70 and thesaid' side boards '73 i,

-the attachment of'theboards 7' to the side boards 71 and of the latterto the boa'rdsm being plainly shown in' the detailyiew,Fig.-

4. Thesebeams' k 70' are slightly inclinedin .opposite directions onboth their upper and lower' surfaces with vertical'sides, "as best shownin Fig. 1, andtransverseuprightboards n n are secured toth'e sides ofthese beams'k 60 Is nearest to the'upper or higher end of the machine,whilesecured, as by bolts, to the'upin regulardescendingseries, as bestshownin "Fig; 1., These screen-sticks are arranged with each twoadjacent sticks on a beam Jig-being separated by spacing-blocks 9-; alsobolted'to- 7'6 r the upper faces of the said beams; and inthe Versevertical sectional View taken on the illustration here. given the saidbeams, with" their sci'een-stickaare arranged in group'sof three beamseach, although thefemaybeas imany of saidbeams in a group asdesir'difi'7'5 any'given 11istance, and the shaklng-screen may contain as manygroupsga's thought 'neces "sary,' 'three onlyof such groups beingshewn'"1n the present drawings,- andbeneath'ea'ch group an open four-facedhopper qissecured to the inclined outer side boards" 0? d of the 10pin-each successivegroup'are of different 5 and increasing width, thenarrowest blocks, 32''," 1

being? betweenjtlie sticks 0, securedto the upper group-(bf three beamsin thisinstanceQ k ewhatwiderblocks, p, are employed between the'sticks0' 'of "the next "group and 9 still' wider blocks between the sticks of"the next lower group. andso on,if more'than" three groups areemployed.

At intervalscorresponding to the 'lohation of the upright extensions'efg, &c.,;the side boards 'zi fd f'of the shaking-screen areprovided withblocks r 1' on their under sides, to'which are pivotally secured thelower ends of the hangers h h, and at the upper or higher end of themachine the lower ends of the adjacent upper pair of hangers h h areconnected by a transverse rods, which extends entirely across themachine and through both of the upper pair of blocks, while the lowerends of the other hangers are merely pivotally connected to the blockson opposite sides, as best shown in Fig. 3. A transverse crank-shaft tisjour-' naled in suitable bearings u u, secured to the uprights a a atthe head end of the machine, and a link 41 connects the cranked portionof the said crank-shaft with the described front transverse rod 8, thesaid crank-shaft having a pulley w at one end, whereby power istransmitted to the same. The tail end of the shakerscreen is providedwith a suitable shoe, the simplest form of which is a transverse board00, extendingacross from one side board c to the other, and with twoconverging upright boards 9 z, arranged to extend from-said side boardstoward the center of said board 00.

' The operation of my machine will be readily understood from theforegoing description of itsconstruction, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, which clearly show the preferred shape of thescreen-sticks 0 0, the'same beyond their squared attaching ends beingsubstantially lozenge-shaped in crosssection, with narrow flattenedlongitudinal surfaces at the top, bottom, and each side at theintersection of the widest faces thereof, this form having been found togive the best results in practice. The bean-pods containing thegreen-beans are strung and canned in that way; but it is very desirablethat the pods should be graded as to size, and to that end all the podsare dumped on the upper group of beams and screen-sticks (suitablereceptacles being placed beneath the hoppers Q q) and power imparted tothe pulley to, which causes the entire screen to be reciprocativelyshaken, and the smaller pods will fall through between the sticks 0 ofthe said upper group into the hopper and receptacle beneath, those oflarger size being shaken over onto the beams and sticks of the nextgroup, and so on,-to the tail end of the machine, where any that fail tofall through between the sticks 0 0 of the lowermost group will bedischarged from the shoe :2: y 2 into a proper receptacle,

to be again passed through the machine for,

grading, if desired. Thus all of the pools are properly gradedpreparatory to being canned. The transverse upright boards n n preventthe pods from being shaken toward the head end of the machine into thewrong hoppers.

My machine is very simple and economical in construction and extremelyefficient in use, and while I have illustrated the preferredconstruction it will be understood that I do not limit myself to theprecise mechanical details shown, as same may be varied within the scopeof what is herein claimed without departure from my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a grading-machine, the combination with a stationary frame, havinga series of uprights thereupon, a series of hangers pivoted to theuprights, an inclined shaking-screen, suspended from the uprights, andcomprising side boards connected by series of transverse beams, withseries of screen-sticks projecting from the upper surface thereof atintervals, toward the rear end of the machine, the free near ends ofsaid screen-sticksprojectingupwardly to a higher plane than their frontends secured to said transverse beams, and means for reciprocativelyshaking the said screen.

2. In a grading-machine, the combination with a stationary frame havinga series of uprights thereupon, a series of hangers pivoted to theuprights, an inclined shaking-screen, downwardly-extended bearings onthe screen to which the hangers are pivotally secured, and comprisingside boards connected by series of transverse beams, arranged onsuccessively lower planes, from the head to the tail end of the machine,and series of screen-sticks projecting from the upper surface of saidbeams, toward the tail end of the machine, the sticks on each beam beingspaced at equal intervals apart, and the said beams arranged in groups,with the sticks on all the beams in the first group adjacent to the headof the machine being nearer together, than the sticks on all the beamsin the second group, and so on, to the tail end of the machine, and therear ends of all the screen-sticks projecting upwardly to a higher planethan their front ends, said rear ends being free and projecting over thefront ends of the screen-sticks in the next lower or rearward group ofscreen-sticks, and means for reciprocatively shaking the said screen.

3. In a grading-machine, the combination with a stationary frame,havingseries of hangers pivotally secured thereto, and series of stationaryhoppers rigidly secured to said frame, of an inclined shaking-screen,suspended by said hangers above said hoppers, and comprising inclinedside boards connected by series of transverse beams, arranged in groups,corresponding to the hoppers below, and dis posed in descending planes;transverse upright guard-boards rising from the said beams on the sidesnearest the head end of the machine, and series of screen-sticksprojecting upwardly and rearwardly from said beams, the sticks on eachbeam being spaced by blocks intermediate adjacent sticks at equaldistances apart, and the spaces between the sticks on the beams indifferent groups, being of different widths, increasing from the headend to the tail endiof the machine, and means for-reciprocativelyshaking the said screen.

4:. In a grading-machine, the combination with a stationary frame,having series of hangers pivotally secured thereto, of a shakingscreen,having inclined side boards connected by series of transverse beamshaving an inclined surface, and series ofscreen-sticks proj ectingrearwardly and upwardly from said inclined surface, said stickshavingsquared ends bolted to the beams, and the balance of said sticks beingof substantially lozenge shape in hangers, said screen having a seriesof trans versely arranged beams and independent screen-sticks secured tothe upper end thereof and projecting therefrom with the free rear endsof the screen-Sticksofeach series projecting at a plane above andoverlapping the attached head ends ofthe screen-sticks of thenext lowerseries, and means for reciprocatlvely shaking the said screen.

6. In a grading-machine, the combination with a stationary frame havinga series of hangers pivotally suspended therefrom, of an inclinedshaking-screen supported by said hangers, said screen having a series oftransverselyarranged beams and independent screen-sticks secured to theupper surface thereof and projecting therefrom with the free rear endsof the screen-sticks of each series projecting at a plane above andoverlapping the detached ends of the screen-sticks of the next lowerseries, means for reciprocatively shaking the said screen, and astationary hopper arranged beneath and common to all of said sticks.

7 In a grading-machine,- the combination with a stationary frame, of aninclined shaking-screen suspended therefrom, comprisingtransversely-arranged beams having inclined upper surfaces, and a serlesof spaced sticks secured at their forward ends to said inclined surfacesof the beams, their rearward ends be a ing free and overlapping theadjacent beams and secured forward ends of the adjacent series.

8. In a grading-machine, the combination with a stationary frame, of aninclined shaking-screen suspended therefrom, comprisingtransversely-arranged beams havinginclined tops, a seriesof spacedstickssecured at their forward ends upon said inclined tops of the beams,their rearward ends being free and extending abovethe next lower beamand overlapping the secured forward ends of the adj acent series, and astationary hopper arranged beneath said screen and common to each of theseries of sticks.

I 9. In a gradingmachine, the combination with a stationary frame, of aninclined shaking-screen suspended therefrom, comprisingtransversely-arranged beams spaced from one another, and havingoppositely-inclined tops and bottoms, a series of sticks secured to saidinclined upper surface of one of'said beams, spacing blocks intermediatethe adjacent sticks, a supplemental series of sticks secured to saidinclined surface of another of said beams, and spacing-blocks ofrelative different size from-the first-mentioned blocks, intermediatethe adjacent sticks, the rearward ends of all of said sticks being freeandoverlapping the secured forward ends of the adjacent series.

10. In a grading-machine, the combination with a stationary frame,uprights upon the frame, and an inclined shaking-screen, links uponopposite sides of the frame having pivotal connection respectively attheir upper EDWARD J. VODRA.

.Witnesses:

FRED W. DIOKE, PETER SoHRoEDER.

